ACC Network? Ah, no.

[whaler11]

I've heard others say this and you guys may be right (Frankly I don't know enough about marketing), but the fact is the school did very little to try and leverage the superior hand they were dealt by upgrading from FCS to BCS. I was a casual fan of UConn football, that followed the boxscores and articles in the paper. I went to a handful of games at memorial stadium. I was a slam dunk fan when they upgraded. The guys in my group I got them to get tickets and they got hooked. There are tons of people waiting to get hooked, some way some how, the school has to bring has to tap into those people.

Totally agree they dropped the ball. Billboards are just setting money on fire. We need just north of 1% of the population to have a season ticket to create enough demand to justify stadium expansion. It's not an unreasonable goal.

 

[UPitt]

1. I never said the women on their own are worth $30m a year.
2. We are talking Conn. Not NYC. SNY charges that much in Conn. I multiplied monthly subscription x cable households in the state.
3. Women's bball received higher ratings than ALL television shows including network a couple times this year.
4. Women's bball knocked a Syracuse bball game off the air across all of SNY this year.
5. $30m is the revenue. You're forgetting production costs. Remember, Fox's take per team on BTN dwarfs the per team payout. They have to pay production. The BTN payout is a fraction of what Fox takes in for running the channel.
6. Yes, I do expect that UConn women's bball is more popular in Ct. than the Mets.

Check this out: http://web.sny.tv/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130111&content_id=40929348&vkey=2

Women's BB will have zero impact on conference expansion. Only in CT is women's BB more popular than football, men's BB, baseball, hockey, wrestling, and the debate team. For everyone else, women's BB is nothing but a title IX requirement that loses money every year. If anything, Uconn has hurt the sports popularity for everyone except Uconn fans. Due to Uconn's success, not enough programs can compete with Uconn and thus drive ratings down everywhere outside of CT.

Congrats on the championships. I truly do respect the program and can only compare its success to the old UCLA teams. In CT the women's BB is a huge success. But with very little competition, women's BB has a very local market.

 

[noeynox]

Women's BB will have zero impact on conference expansion. Only in CT is women's BB more popular than football, men's BB, baseball, hockey, wrestling, and the debate team. For everyone else, women's BB is nothing but a title IX requirement that loses money every year. If anything, Uconn has hurt the sports popularity for everyone except Uconn fans. Due to Uconn's success, not enough programs can compete with Uconn and thus drive ratings down everywhere outside of CT.

Congrats on the championships. I truly do respect the program and can only compare its success to the old UCLA teams. In CT the women's BB is a huge success. But with very little competition, women's BB has a very local market.

Just shut up already. No one really cares what you think. And no, I don't think Women's basketball matters one frigging iota. But please let us wallow in our misery without your two cents please.

 

[upstater]

Women's BB will have zero impact on conference expansion. Only in CT is women's BB more popular than football, men's BB, baseball, hockey, wrestling, and the debate team. For everyone else, women's BB is nothing but a title IX requirement that loses money every year. If anything, Uconn has hurt the sports popularity for everyone except Uconn fans. Due to Uconn's success, not enough programs can compete with Uconn and thus drive ratings down everywhere outside of CT.

Congrats on the championships. I truly do respect the program and can only compare its success to the old UCLA teams. In CT the women's BB is a huge success. But with very little competition, women's BB has a very local market.

And what does this have to do with what I wrote? Nada!

The point is MONEY. I refuted your points. The women make money and are on TV. Does the B1G have something against moeny? Does it not like money? And contrary to what you say, what were Rutgers, Louisville and Notre Dame doing in women's bball before they started competing against UConn?

In the last 6 years, 4 different BE teams made the F4. 11 F4 appearances total. Before Auriemma came along, no one made it. You're wrong as can be on this. But you're from Pitt, what would you know about the Final4?

 

[upstater]

everytime that you think you have convinced yourself that womens basketball matters in some way, you should remind yourself that WOMENS BASKETBALL DOESNT MATTER

Sigh. Who said it mattered? It only matters to the people selling TV rights for big money. To the rest of us it doesn't matter. It's like Rutgers sports. They don't matter at all. They only matter to the TV rights people!

Now go be stupid somewhere else.

 

[Nostical]

NECN doesn't really talk about college athletics at all - their sportscasts tend to be on the very short side, so they're not going to dedicate 30 seconds of a 5 minute segment to the amount of UConn players drafted..

You're right that NECN emphasizes pro sports and not much airtime is dedicated to any sports---but they did discuss the draft. Walsh used his time to talk about the #1 pick and Manti Te'o (I get it) --and Geno Smith going to The Jets--(really?). The time it would have taken for him to say "And kudos to those UConn Huskies who had five players drafted" is 7.5 secs, not 30. He failed to mention it because UConn isn't at the forefront of his thinking. That's what a quality promotion effort by our staff ought to have resulted in, especially since UConn and its fans are part of the audience NECN claims to serve.

In our current position we will only get the coverage we think we deserve when we make the extra effort to get the word out. That's what "promotion" is all about--and it's critical when trying to change perception. Right now the words "UConn Football" bring tepid reactions, smirks of derision or, maybe worse--no reactions at all. NECN informing all of New England about our draft success would have helped foster a better perception among lots of previously unknowing/uncaring fans. What you want is for football fans to hear the info and register this reaction -- "Wow, I didn't realize that--UConn's a lot better than I thought!" But you also want non-fans to hear and internalize those kudos as they repeat on a loop throughout the day. Then, whenever the subject of UConn comes up, they'd be far more apt to say "Oh yeah, they have a really good football team" Sure, attendance matters, wins matter, but this stuff is also important in trying to improve, bit by bit, the image of a football program looking for greater respect. By ignoring us, NECN blew it-- and they (and UConn's promotions department) deserved being called out.

 

[kyleslamb]

The FCC allows cable operators to negotiate directly with cable nets, but the cable operator has the right to determine what tier the cable net will be offered. Thus, the BTN could require $0.90 per sub, but they may get put into a sports tier for example. I'm sure politicians could support the cable companies pushing back on the BTN.

The Big Ten's contracts expressly lay out that in those situations, they're to be placed on basic or expanded basic tiers. So in this case, they've already eliminated the possibility that a net could simply put them on sports tier.

 

[upstater]

The Big Ten's contracts expressly lay out that in those situations, they're to be placed on basic or expanded basic tiers. So in this case, they've already eliminated the possibility that a net could simply put them on sports tier.

Whatever the BTN's contract states, it's not getting them anywhere in Eastern Pa. (which is PSU's homebase). Comcast refuses to play ball with them there. BTN is on there, but for a pittance.

 

[UConnJim]

The Big Ten's contracts expressly lay out that in those situations, they're to be placed on basic or expanded basic tiers. So in this case, they've already eliminated the possibility that a net could simply put them on sports tier.

That is what the BTN wants, not what is required by law. There is no law saying the BTN must be carried and at what price. BTN says they want a certain price and a certain carriage, but it doesn't mean that is what they will get.

If the choice was be carried in a sports tier in NYC and get, say $40 million per year or not get carried at all, what the BTN do? Of course, they would take the money!

 

[uconnric]

You're right that NECN emphasizes pro sports and not much airtime is dedicated to any sports---but they did discuss the draft. Walsh used his time to talk about the #1 pick and Manti Te'o (I get it) --and Geno Smith going to The Jets--(really?). The time it would have taken for him to say "And kudos to those UConn Huskies who had five players drafted" is 7.5 secs, not 30. He failed to mention it because UConn isn't at the forefront of his thinking. That's what a quality promotion effort by our staff ought to have resulted in, especially since UConn and its fans are part of the audience NECN claims to serve.

In our current position we will only get the coverage we think we deserve when we make the extra effort to get the word out. That's what "promotion" is all about--and it's critical when trying to change perception. Right now the words "UConn Football" bring tepid reactions, smirks of derision or, maybe worse--no reactions at all. NECN informing all of New England about our draft success would have helped foster a better perception among lots of previously unknowing/uncaring fans. What you want is for football fans to hear the info and register this reaction -- "Wow, I didn't realize that--UConn's a lot better than I thought!" But you also want non-fans to hear and internalize those kudos as they repeat on a loop throughout the day. Then, whenever the subject of UConn comes up, they'd be far more apt to say "Oh yeah, they have a really good football team" Sure, attendance matters, wins matter, but this stuff is also important in trying to improve, bit by bit, the image of a football program looking for greater respect. By ignoring us, NECN blew it-- and they (and UConn's promotions department) deserved being called out.

NESN couldn't care less about UConn athletics. Like much of the Boston sports mindset, it's a pro town and they are very provincial. Nothing really matters to them outside of the city limits. It's not the fault of our marketing dept. either. Connecticut is not part of the Boston tv market.

 

[Nostical]

This is about NECN not NESN.